“Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalms 119:11
As I reconvene my blog, I wanted to start with the most important thing: God’s word. My mother started teaching me scripture when I was three years old. I remember knowing John 3:16 by then. She became a Christian as a teenager. It was such an improvement in her family as they became followers of God that she wanted me to start out with God’s word right inside me as a little girl. I guess she had a sense that I was really going to need that inner guidance that comes from the word of God… And I have.
She taught me to trust God’s word, that it is dependable and that you can stake your life on it. Even if following his word took me to places of great danger, she taught me to follow his word not my own understanding. I am grateful for that.
The scripture in the picture is on the windowsill in our little kitchen. It popped out at me a couple of weeks ago as Gary and I were reading together at breakfast. I’ve been breathing it back to God ever since. Sort of breathe-praying. Here’s the thing: it’s saying that loving God means not only knowing God’s commands but doing them, and that they are not troublesome. It ’s pointing to a place of trust where knowing and following God’s word is not a bother or grudging inconvenience, but a joy… coming from a heart that knows that his ways are higher than mine. That is my quest.
Responses to “Your Word I Have Hidden In My Heart”
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Thanks Joy. It’s what keeps me some what sane, and able to respond from the centre. For Karen and I it’s been our anchor… Keep on writing!
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:11 am
Joy,
I love to memorize scripture and have undertaken in recent years to place longer passages into my heart and mind. As a result, and particularly in memorizing the Psalms, I’ve realized there is a different way of “hearing” scripture than “reading” scripture. And I am aware that there are over 1 billion people in the world who are oral learners (their reading ability is nonexistent or very minimal). I will not quickly forget the man in Nepal who clutched his “notes”, listening intently to Joe’s teaching. Notes were never opened and we found out later that he couldn’t read. The question I mull, how can we help put God’s Word into people’s hearts, who can’t read it in the first place?
June 29th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Thanks Joy for the wonderful words of reflection and truth. So many times, in this age of countless voices, I get swept into a torrent of sound and chatter and opinion. Sometimes the voices feel loud and produce anxiety in my heart and soul. It is in quieting my soul and drinking in God’s word that I truly sense His peace and freedom deep inside. Breathe in, breathe out…Your word Lord is a light to my path and a lamp unto my feet.